Artnet News

January 26, 2018

New York dealer Tina Kim tells artnet News what it means to have several of her artists targeted.

A South Korean appeals court has sentenced former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun to two years in prison for her role in compiling a blacklist of 10,000 artists critical of impeached former president Park Guen-hye.

The former culture minister along with ex-presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and four other ex-officials were arrested last January. The were charged with drawing up a list of thousands of artists and cultural figures with the aim of excluding them from government funding programs.

All six ex-officials were tried and convicted last July. Kim was sentenced to three years for abuse of power and perjury. Four other former officials were each sentenced from between 18 months to two years for their roles in preparing the blacklist. Cho was convicted of committing perjury about her knowledge of the list, but she was released after receiving a suspended sentence...